Benicia, Calif., Sept. 23, 2013 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Doug Kalitta captured his first win of the season in the world's fastest and quickest motorsports class on Sunday with a Top Fuel victory at the AAA Texas NHRA FallNationals at Texas Motorplex, near Dallas. Kalitta drove his Mac Tools-sponsored 10,000 hp dragster to victory in the final round against Shawn Langdon in his Al-Anabi entry. When Kalitta's 3.842-second pass at 320.42 mph overtook Langdon's 3.896 at 291.32 mph, he not only took home the event win but jumped three spots in points race - with both Red Line cars tied for first.
"This is huge," Kalitta said. "It's a good day for us. I'm really proud of Jim [Oberhofer, crew chief], Troy [Fasching, assistant crew chief], and the whole Mac Tools team. We were qualifying well and going through the rounds. I was just trying to make sure I didn't screw it up. At the end of the day, we prevailed."
The win marks the first of the season for the 16-year Top Fuel veteran and the 33rd of his career. It also ends the longest winless streak of his career at 71 events (Denver, 2010). With only four events remaining in the 2013 NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series, Kalitta - who entered the Dallas event fourth place in points - has not been in or shared the points lead for the class since 2009. He is a two-time Top Fuel championship runner-up.
"It was a really good day for the whole team," Kalitta said. "We'll be celebrating this win for a while. It was also great to get a win for Jim and (daughter) Ashley Oberhofer. We lost Jim's wife Tammy not too long ago to Cancer. The Oberhofers have been part of our Kalitta Motorsports family for almost 30 years and losing Tammy was a huge blow to all of us. Tammy was also our office manager for many years and a truly wonderful lady. She is dearly missed by everyone, but I'm very glad we were able to get this trophy for Tammy."
In Pro Stock Motorcycle, Matt Smith also grabbed the runner-up position on his Red Line equipped machine, putting him just 11 points behind the lead for the season.
For technical information on Red Line products, visit www.redlineoil.com and use our application guide to find the appropriate product for your vehicle.
Cory Burns -
